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For Immediate Release Exhibit 99.1 Investar Holding Corporation Announces 2021 Second Quarter Results BATON ROUGE , LA ( July 22 , 2021 ) - Investar Holding Corporation ( " Investar " ) ( NASDAQ : ISTR ) , the holding company for Investar Bank , National Association ( the “ Bank ” ) , today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30 , 2021. Investar reported record net income of $ 5.7 million , or $ 0.53 per diluted common share , for the second quarter of 2021 , compared to $ 5.4 million , or $ 0.51 per diluted common share , for the quarter ended March 31 , 2021 , and $ 4.3 million , or $ 0.39 per diluted common share , for the quarter ended June 30 , 2020 . On a non - GAAP basis , core earnings per diluted common share for the second quarter of 2021 were $ 0.53 compared to $ 0.49 for the first quarter of 2021 and $ 0.32 for the second quarter of 2020. Core earnings exclude certain non - operating items including , but not limited to , gain on sale of investment securities , change in the fair value of equity securities , and acquisition expense ( refer to the Reconciliation of Non - GAAP Financial Measures tables for a reconciliation of GAAP to non - GAAP metrics ) . Investar Holding Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer John D'Angelo said : " I am pleased to announce another successful quarter for Investar with record net income of $ 5.7 million . We are excited to have completed the acquisition of Cheaha Bank and operational conversion in the second quarter . In line with our stated strategy , we continued to reduce our cost of funds by 13 basis points through an improved deposit mix . We expanded our owner - occupied commercial real estate portfolio as we remain focused on relationship banking and growing our commercial portfolio . As the economy recovers from the pandemic , we remain confident in the overall credit quality of our loan portfolio and continue to experience minimal loss from charge - offs . Loan yield improved in the second quarter , however , we did experience compression of our net interest margin due to excess liquidity of approximately $ 230 million . This excess liquidity will continue to put pressure on our net interest margin as we work to deploy it through loan growth and investment opportunities . Investar continues to invest in improved banking technology as we continue to see a shift in customer behavior with the use of technology . We continue to evaluate our branch network and look for opportunities that will further improve our operating efficiency . " Second Quarter Highlights • . • Investar recorded record net income of $ 5.7 million for the quarter ended June 30 , 2021 , compared to net income of $ 5.4 million for the quarter ended March 31 , 2021 and $ 4.3 million for the quarter ended June 30 , 2020 . On April 1 , 2021 , Investar closed its previously announced acquisition of Cheaha Financial Group , Inc. ( " Cheaha ” ) , headquartered in Oxford , Alabama , and its wholly - owned subsidiary , Cheaha Bank . As of March 31 , 2021 , Cheaha had approximately $ 238 million in assets , $ 120 million in net loans , and $ 206 million in total deposits . In the aggregate , Cheaha's shareholders received approximately $ 41.1 million in cash consideration . On June 18 , 2021 , Investar completed the operational conversion of Cheaha . Total loans increased $ 101.9 million , or 5.5 % , to $ 1.95 billion at June 30 , 2021 , compared to $ 1.85 billion at March 31 , 2021 , and increased $ 133.8 million , or 7.4 % , compared to $ 1.81 billion at June 30 , 2020. Excluding loans acquired from Cheaha on April 1 , 2021 with a total balance of $ 120.0 million at June 30 , 2021 and PPP loans with a total balance of $ 73.0 million ( $ 1.7 million acquired from Cheaha ) , $ 106.6 million , and $ 109.5 million at June 30 , 2021 , March 31 , 2021 and June 30 , 2020 , respectively , total loans increased $ 17.2 million , or 1.0 % ( 4.0 % annualized ) , compared to March 31 , 2021 and increased $ 52.1 million , or 3.1 % , compared to June 30 , 2020 . The yield on the loan portfolio increased to 4.78 % at June 30 , 2021 compared to 4.72 % at March 31 , 2021 . Cost of deposits decreased 12 basis points to 0.51 % for the quarter ended June 30 , 2021 compared to 0.63 % for the quarter ended March 31 , 2021 and decreased 69 basis points compared to 1.20 % for the quarter ended June 30 , 2020. Our overall cost of funds decreased 13 and 66 basis points to 0.70 % compared to 0.83 % and 1.36 % for the quarters ended March 31 , 2021 and June 30 , 2020 , respectively .